WINGS (PIT_AERO)
- Start of the project : 01-11-20
- End of project : 31-10-23
The ambition of the Wings project is to enable the Walloon aeronautical industries to pursue their research efforts in order to, on the one hand, preserve or improve their position in relation to the agreement, and, on the other hand, to actively participate in the ambitious objective of a low-carbon aircraft entering service in 2035, followed by an equally radical evolution, carbon neutrality for 2050. The entire production chain is concerned, from raw materials to the recycling of used parts, including design systems, ground services and on-board technologies.
The significant increase (aspect ratio) and flexibility of the wing is one of the main developments to reduce the carbon footprint in commercial aviation. This will have an impact on the structure of the slats and their mechanisms. Another major area for reducing the carbon footprint is increasing the aerodynamic performance of the wing and its moving parts. A third area of research envisaged in this project is the reduction of noise emitted by the moving parts of the wing during the landing phase.
The three major Walloon companies in the aeronautics sector, Safran Aero Boosters, Sonaca and Thales, will collaborate on six target research themes with the research centres, Cenaero, von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (VKI), CRM, Materia Nova, Sirris, Cetic and Multitel and with a panel of SMEs active in aeronautics :
- Aerostructure ;
- Propulsion ;
- Communication systems ;
- Materials and processes ;
- Digitalisation and digital simulation ;
- Industry 4.0.
Objectives and missions of Materia Nova
In this consortium, Materia Nova will contribute its expertise in the field of materials and processes.
Materia Nova's involvement in this project is based on its various areas of expertise :
Control of the electrical properties of polymeric and composite materials; surface treatment technologies by plasma, sol-gel or electroplating to confer specific functionalities or increase the durability of materials; and energy production and storage technologies and processes.